8 Words and Phrases You Should Eliminate From Your Resume

They’ll make your resume stand out — but not in a good way.

By Catherine Conlan

Monster Contributing Writer

 

When you’re putting your resume together, you want to look professional, present the best image possible and find ways to stand out. There are several common words and phrases that many people think fit the bill, but aren’t as great as they seem. In fact, they make hiring managers and recruiters cringe.

 

Here are eight words and phrases you should eliminate from your resume.

Results-oriented

 

This term is one of the worst, HR experts say. “People use this term in lieu of telling giving me specifics,” says Liz D’Aloia, founder of HR Virtuoso.

 

Career consultant and data analyst Carl Forrest agrees, adding that the term itself is nebulous and doesn’t say anything. “It implies that the reader should just take your claim at face-value.”

 

Both D’Aloia and Forrest recommend focusing on specifics instead. “Give me a brief summary of the project that demonstrated your strong drive for results, how you achieved them, and most importantly, metrics so I understand the scale and impact of the results,” D’Aloia says. “This should be one of those stories that you want to share when I interview you.”

High technical aptitude

 

This phrase is especially grating on a marketing resume, says Wes Lieser, marketing recruiter at Versique Search and Consulting. “It's just not something that needs to be said. It actually makes me assume that you don't fully understand what you are doing. This is comparable to a baseball pitcher telling someone that he or she can throw a baseball. It goes without saying.” Instead, talk about the specific programs and applications you excel at using.

Ninja, rockstar and other quirky titles

 

You may see words like “ninja” or “rockstar” in a hiring ad, but if you don’t, definitely don’t use them in your resume. It makes you sound pretentious, says Josh Goldstein, co-founder of Underdog.io. “It demonstrates that the person doesn't get it and probably lacks creativity. Instead of saying you’re good at something, show it.”

Assisted

 

“Assisted” is one that workforce development consultant Frank Grossman doesn’t like. “If you assisted with something, there's something you actually did. For example, if you ‘assisted in

keeping the facility clean,’ what did you do to assist? Did you clean the kitchen? Did you sanitize 24 restrooms before opening each morning? If one of your accomplishments was to ‘assist the CEO,’ what did you do for her? Did you make her travel reservations, write her press releases, fly her jet or drive her car?” Use specifics to describe your experience.

Strong work ethic

 

This is the one phrase Kimberli Taylor hates. As the office manager for Conover & Grebe, she is the first person to read through resumes when the firm is hiring, and “strong work ethic” will not impress her. “I hate this because it is not a skill or an asset. It is an expectation of any employee. Listing it as a skill tells me that the candidate believes work ethic is optional for some jobs.” Frequently “strong work ethic” is simply a space-filler on resumes for people with no other skills to list.

Disruptive, cutting-edge and other trendy adjectives

 

Stick to plain English when describing your accomplishments, says Dennis Tupper, corporate recruiter atEliassen Group. “Do not try to impress the recruiter or hiring manager with words like 'disruptive,' 'cutting-edge' or 'ground-breaking.' You are not reinventing the wheel, but chances are you are accomplishing some great things. Keep it simple.”

Self-starter
 

You may think this term makes you look like a productive, eager employee, but it doesn’t necessarily come across that way. “‘Self-starter' is generic, and as an adult if we have to motivate you then you are probably not someone we want to bring into our organization,” Tupper says. Instead, list projects that show your leadership or initiative.

Detail-oriented

 

This is another term that should be thrown out, Tupper says.“We expect all people we hire to pay attention to detail,” he says. Again, find ways to show your skills in catching mistakes others miss or your extraordinary abilities to find problems in complex issues.

Avoid the Top 10 Resume Mistakes

By Peter Vogt, Monster Senior Contributing Writer

It's deceptively easy to make mistakes on your resume and exceptionally difficult to repair the damage once an employer gets it. So prevention is critical, whether you're writing your first resume or revising it for a mid-career job search. Check out this resume guide to the most common pitfalls and how you can avoid them.

1. Typos and Grammatical Errors

Your resume needs to be grammatically perfect. If it isn't, employers will read between the lines and draw not-so-flattering conclusions about you, like: "This person can't write," or "This person obviously doesn't care."

2. Lack of Specifics

Employers need to understand what you've done and accomplished. For example:

A. Worked with employees in a restaurant setting.
B. Recruited, hired, trained and supervised more than 20 employees in a restaurant with $2 million in annual sales.

Both of these phrases could describe the same person, but the details and specifics in example B will more likely grab an employer's attention.

3. Attempting One Size Fits All

Whenever you try to develop a one-size-fits-all resume to send to all employers, you almost always end up with something employers will toss in the recycle bin. Employers want you to write a resume specifically for them. They expect you to clearly show how and why you fit the position in a specific organization.

4. Highlighting Duties Instead of Accomplishments

It's easy to slip into a mode where you simply start listing job duties on your resume. For example:

• Attended group meetings and recorded minutes.
   
• Worked with children in a day-care setting.
   
• Updated departmental files.

Employers, however, don't care so much about what you've done as what you've accomplished in your various activities. They're looking for statements more like these:

• Used laptop computer to record weekly meeting minutes and compiled them in a Microsoft Word-based file for future organizational reference.
   
• Developed three daily activities for preschool-age children and prepared them for a 10-minute holiday program performance.
   
• Reorganized 10 years worth of unwieldy files, making them easily accessible to department members.

5. Going on Too Long or Cutting Things Too Short

Despite what you may read or hear, there are no real rules governing resume length. Why? Because human beings, who have different preferences and expectations where resumes are concerned, will be reading it.

That doesn't mean you should start sending out five-page resumes, of course. Generally speaking, you usually need to limit yourself to a maximum of two pages. But don't feel you have to use two pages if one will do. Conversely, don't cut the meat out of your resume simply to make it conform to an arbitrary one-page standard.

6. A Bad Objective

Employers do read your resume objective, but too often they plow through vague pufferies like, "Seeking a challenging position that offers professional growth." Give employers something specific and, more importantly, something that focuses on their needs as well as your own. Example: "A challenging entry-level marketing position that allows me to contribute my skills and experience in fund-raising for nonprofits."

7. No Action Verbs

Avoid using phrases like "responsible for." Instead, use action verbs: "Resolved user questions as part of an IT help desk serving 4,000 students and staff."

8. Leaving Off Important Information

You may be tempted, for example, to eliminate mention of the jobs you've taken to earn extra money for school. Typically, however, the soft skills you've gained from these experiences (e.g., work ethic, time management) are more important to employers than you might think.

9. Visually Too Busy

If your resume is wall-to-wall text featuring five different fonts, it will most likely give the employer a headache. So show your resume to several other people before sending it out. Do they find it visually attractive? If what you have is hard on the eyes, revise.

10. Incorrect Contact Information

I once worked with a student whose resume seemed incredibly strong, but he wasn't getting any bites from employers. So one day, I jokingly asked him if the phone number he'd listed on his resume was correct. It wasn't. Once he changed it, he started getting the calls he'd been expecting. Moral of the story: Double-check even the most minute, taken-for-granted details -- sooner rather than later.